01363 77286001363 772860
01363 77286001363 772860
"I’m a final year Vet Student at the University of Nottingham, and I’ve just finished a 4 week farm placement with St. Boniface. This was for my farm elective, a higher level placement, which can be undertaken at any XLVets practice - chosen because they have the facilities and clinical caseload to provide experience of specialist practice.
Under the supervision of the Vets here, I’ve had the opportunity to perform reproductive exams of cows, including rectal palpation....
Don’t rely on Blanket Protection
Often treating animals to prevent infection (such as day old lambs) can be easily avoided with good husbandry. Antibiotics are no substitute to high hygiene, low stress levels and stocking densities and good colostrum management.
Dose Correctly
Bacteria are much more likely to develop resistance from treatment with an antibiotic at a lower than effective dose. Overdosing can also select for resistance and...
EUROPEAN Antibiotic Awareness week runs from November 16 to November 22 and I am sure you have all seen the media stories, regarding the threat of antibiotic resistance; many of them blaming the use of antibiotics in livestock for the problem.
Whatever the relative risk from human and animal use, all sectors need to be tackling this problem since there is no doubt that the number of antibiotic resistant bacteria are increasing, and if this continues we are heading for a situation...
There is increasing concern over the appropriate use of antibiotics on farms. Calf pneumonia is an area in which vast improvements can be made.
The most likely agents to cause pneumonia are viruses, namely IBR, BVD, Pi3 and RSV. Invasion of one or more of these viruses allows secondary bacterial infections to proliferate i.e. Mycoplasma bovis, Pastuerella, Mannheimia and Haemophilus. These secondary bacterial...
The Chief Medical Officer, 12th March 2013
The signs of Salmonella infection are varied and the same as those caused by many other diseases, so it is vital to contact the practice if you spot any of them, particularly: diarrhoea, abortion, blood poisoning, joint infections, pneumonia, milk drop and death.
They may...
We can certainly help answer those questions and work on solutions to any problems.
Quantity and time is also critical in colostrum management, aim for 4 litres in the first 3 hours.
Colostrum is the first step on the road to successful calf...
The costliest problem in young stock rearing will be pneumonia on almost all farms, so many factors come into play.
Success factors with housing are simple yet can be difficult to achieve!
Detailed below, are our 4 key points to consider when reviewing calf housing.
Young stock represent everything about the future of your herd and with the milk price set to head in the opposite direction to the temperature gauge now has never been a better time to focus on healthy heifer production.
Successful calf rearing is not just about health, though this is a key factor, take a look at our checklist for healthy calf rearing - see whether you can answer all of the questions positively.
Did you know your cows are made of a lot of metal?
Over a dozen metals are used by the body, for example Iron is a crucial component of blood allowing oxygen to be carried around the body.
A lot of the other metals involved in metabolism we will have heard of like Copper, Zinc and Selenium. Perhaps you won’t have heard of some of the ones needed in tiny quantities like Nickel, Boron and Chromium. Most unlikely of all...
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Registered in England No 551 6945. Registered office Exeter Road, Crediton, Devon, EX17 3BN.